Page 10 of Finding Cory

His blue eyes were clear and calm as he watched her. Olivia took a deep breath, puffed her cheeks on the way out, and took another long sip of her beer.

"You're not starting with the easy questions, are you?" She smiled to take the sting from her words. "I guess we should start this off being honest with each other, though." Another long sip of beer, and she looked away from his clear blue eyes, which seemed to see right into her soul. "Ihadto get out."

He only listened, doing his best to be quiet and really pay attention to not just her words, but the emotions behind them, as she continued.

"I'd been in the rat race since my teens, since my parents enrolled me in an exclusive Manhattan prep school. There was this intense pressure to be the best, the smartest, the most popular. Some girls couldn't handle it; they cracked, took drugs, slept around. I thrived on it." Twirling her beer bottle in her fingers, she said, "I was always top of the pile. I was the one who got the internships, the scholarships, won the awards. Everything came so easily. Got picked up straight out of Stanford Business School to work at the top marketing firm in New York, made associate in two years, became the youngest partner in the firm's history on my twenty-sixth birthday."

Cory said nothing, just watched as Olivia talked. Her voice had no real pride in it as she talked about her achievements; she might have been reciting a grocery list for all the emotion she showed. Her eyes flicked back to his. "And with all the success came money, more of it than I really knew what to do with... and the perfect partner to share it all with."

He'd wondered if that would come up. There was no way a woman as beautiful and successful as Olivia hadn't had men falling at her feet.

"Brad Cochrane. Or as my friends dubbed him after the breakup, The Cockroach." She gave him a little half smile. "One of Wall Street's finest."

"Wait a minute," Cory suddenly put two and two together. "I know that name. Isn't he that guy who was recently convicted in the biggest money-laundering case in history? For the Mexican drug cartels?"

"Bingo." Olivia made finger guns and pointed them at him. "As his fiancée, I was suspect number two. Took me months to clear my name. Most of my assets are still sequestered, and almost all of my legitimate clients suddenly really wanted to work with other partners at the firm. I was asked to take a leave of absence... and then the contents of my desk got delivered to my apartment in a UPS box."

"Jeez, Olivia, that must have been absolute hell," Cory said quietly. He couldn't even imagine what she'd gone through, her professional reputation ruined by something that had absolutely nothing to do with her at the same time as her relationship collapsed under a tissue of lies. "I'm so sorry."

She drained the last of her beer and set the glass down on the bar. "I sued for wrongful dismissal... and lost. There was a clause in my contract about not bringing my good name into disrepute, and my name had been smeared all over the news in connection with Brad's. Even though I had nothing to do with his shit, I still lost everything. My job, my reputation... and after the lawsuit, there was no way any firm in New York would ever hire me again. All because I had the shitty taste to fall for a con artist."

There was really nothing Cory could say. What had happened to Olivia was deeply unfair. She gave him a wan little smile.

"So you see, I really didn't have all that many options when John Hunter called me. I'd just pitched a marketing campaign for his California winery when all the shit went down. He liked it, called to take me up on it, and was seriously unhappy when he found out I wouldn't be able to handle the campaign after all. He asked me to handle it privately, which I did... I had no idea when or if I'd ever get another job at all, and the lawsuit had eaten most of my savings. The launch went off really well despite everything, and he offered me this job. The rest, as they say, is history."

She shrugged, looking away at the ocean again. "You know, I don't regret it. It was killing me slowly, the constant pressure to dress the part, be seen in all the right places, be friends with all the right people. This"—she swept a hand around, indicating their peaceful surroundings—"maybe here I can find out who Olivia Stratten actually is when she's not under pressure to be perfect."

Cory bit his lip on the remark that almost spilled from him. Olivia turned to him, her eyes dancing with mirth.

"Maybe that's why I feel so comfortable with you already. You definitely don't know Perfect Olivia."

"I wasn't gonna say it." His grin broke out, though. "You did look like perfection walking down the dock. I was very intimidated."

"Until my clumsy ass fell in the harbor." She snickered, eyes alight.

On impulse he took her hand. "Olivia Stratten is someone who can laugh at herself, and that's the first trait I look for in a woman: a good sense of humor."

Laughing freely at that, Olivia squeezed his hand back. "Well. A couple of months ago, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have seen the funny side, but I definitely do now."

Cory looked at his watch then and said with regret that he needed to get back. They waved to Nessa, who was just getting busy with the early evening cocktail hour, and hopped back in the golf cart. He pointed out the walking path, which was a shortcut to the cabins as they passed it.

"I have to go call the early evening bingo game," Cory said regretfully. "It's our regular bingo caller's day off."

Olivia laughed at the thought of Cory calling bingo numbers to a crowd of retirees. Because he was the activities director, she supposed he had to be able to cover for any of his team when required, though. Thinking that she needed to know more about the activities and events the resort offered, she questioned him about his job. Cory answered all her questions good-naturedly, clearly happy to talk about the job he obviously adored.

"Bryce was right when he said you really need to see the Reef, though," he said as he pulled the golf buggy back into the parking slot they'd taken it from. "Have you ever dived before?"

She shook her head. "Not proper diving with oxygen tanks, no. I'm a strong swimmer, though."

"That I already knew." He cast her a grin. "Well, you'd have to take a couple of Bryce's starter lessons in the pool to begin with, but I'm taking a group out snorkeling tomorrow, if you'd be interested?"

"I'd love to," Olivia said enthusiastically, before she thought to say, "I don't know if Luke will want me to start work here, though..."

"It's an early afternoon tour. You can catch up with him in the morning and see," Cory suggested. "I'm pretty sure he'll tell you to take a few days and familiarize yourself with everything the resort has to offer before you consider implementing anything, though."

That sounded like a sensible strategy. "Well, provided he's okay with it, yes, I'd love to come snorkeling."

"Excellent. Boat leaves the dock at one; we've got plenty of snorkeling gear, but make sure you bring your own sunscreen." He grinned down at her, and as they approached the door leading back into the main building, he drew her gently to a stop with his hand on her elbow. "There's nothing I'd like more than to spend the whole evening getting to know you, Olivia. I'm sorry I can't."

---